The Stovebolt Site Forums The Forum Gallery 1947 (2nd Series) - 1955 (1st Series) 1950 Chevrolet 3600 3/4-ton pickup

1950 Chevrolet 3600 3/4 ton pickup.

I bought this truck in non-running condition several years ago. Back in 1979, I was I sophomore in high school and one of my classmates had a ‘51 AD truck in grey primer that he drove to school. I never forgot the one time that he took me for a drive- it was hands-down the coolest vehicle I had ever sat in. Other than that experience, I didn’t know anything about AD trucks when I had this one towed to my house.

The fellow I bought my truck from had pinned up a hand-written ad on a bulletin board at the local coffee shop. I saw the ad, and felt an instant connection with “Pugsley” (the truck).

When I walked up on it for the first time it was sitting in a shady glen, providing a nice, dry home for many spiders. It had an old, stiff horse blanket laying inside that looked as though it had been sitting there, undisturbed, covering a large hole in the seat for more than 30 years. Pugsley called out to me like the tin man in The Wizard of Oz…………”oyel”…. I was hooked.

At first, I thought I would get it drivable and just leave it was way it was, but one thing led to another, and when I found the rear engine support ears broken with a bunch of rivets missing, I decided this truck was going be taken down to the bare frame. So Pugsley gets a trip to Emerald City for the full treatment…..6 years later, after learning how to weld, how to bump metal, bodywork, block sand and paint…..I finally got to drive it. Just like Greased Lightning - What a hoot!

Unbeknownst to me at the time, it had a 261 cu in engine in it when I bought it. Otherwise, it was completely original. The engine needed rebuilding, and the more I researched the 261, the more I liked the idea of keeping it. I did do a few mods/additions during the restoration, but my goal was to try to retain as much of the essence of the truck as possible, while turning it into a regular 65 mph driver. Here’s are the things that I added:

Langdon’s dual Carter/Weber carb setup with elec chokes
Langdon’s “Bulldog” cam (really like this cam)
HEI ignition
848 cylinder head
Fenton manifolds (dual exhaust all the way to the side-exit "shotgun" pipes)
S-10 T5 transmission
Later year S-10 ZR-2 Chevy Blazer rear axle with 3.73 gearing
4 wheel power disc brakes
3” front axle drop (by Sid) with modern tie-rod ends
Reversed the rear leaf springs (to center the rear wheels in the fender arch- but I may change these back)
Dynomat interior sound proofing (I have a lot of hearing loss, and this helped to really quiet the cab down)
Front anti-sway bar
12v alternator
Electric wipers (I do occasionally get stuck in the rain)
Autowire wiring harness with modern blade-type fuse panel
3-point retractable seatbelts- using Deve’s method of install

I did some of these mods because I wanted to “hot rod” it a little bit, and because I wanted to make the truck as safe and trouble free as possible so that I could drIve it regularly with more confidence on the highway to work.

It is driven about 4 times a week, including one 100 mile roundtrip commute. It is very quiet inside, and the close ratio 5 speed T5 trans, coupled with the 3” drop and anti-sway bar make it a lot more fun to drive on the twisties where I live, than I would have imagined. It also stops on a dime with only my big toe on the brake, which makes me feel a little safer in stop-and-go traffic.

I look forward to my weekly 100 mile roundtrip commute- it is my therapy.

My philosophy on vintage vehicles: Restore it, then drive it. When I’m gone, the next guy/gal can restore it again (it would be a crime to deny the next steward of Pugsley all the joys involved in doing a restoration, no?). There’s not much point in owning it, if you aren’t getting out on the road for some smiles while getting some bugs in your teeth.

Thanks for visiting with my truck!

Very nice Dave.👍I love the color. Did you keep the straight axle? I’m guessing the S10 differential came with disc brakes, where did you get the fronts from?

Hi J, Yes, I still have the straight front axle.

I swapped in a 1/2 ton (3100) front axle that was available locally, into my truck so that I could do the less-expensive 3100 5-lug front disc brake conversion (back then, I could not find an affordable a 5-lug disc conversion for the 3600). The 3100 axle with spindles is a direct swap for the 3600 axle- but you must get the 3100 spindles, because they are a different diameter than the 3600 spindles, and the disc kit won't fit the 3600 spindles.

I got the 3100 front disc kit from Speedway Motors. It was never my intention to have rear disc brakes, but the S-10 ZR-2 axle came with them, so I kept them, and they work very well. What you end up with is a 5-lug hub on every corner (4.75 x 5). The rear axle is GM metric, so even though the bolt pattern is the same, the lug nut threads are metric on the rear axle. The ZR-2 axle is very beefy, and is only 1/2 inch wider than the stock 3600 axle (WMS to WMS), I believe, which required no modification to its width. I just had to cut everything off of the new axle housing and weld on shock mounts and leaf spring axle perches.